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DNA Databases in the U.S. and China Are Tools of Racial Oppression
Two major world powers, the United States and China, have both collected an enormous number of DNA samples from their citizens, the premise being that these samples will help solve crimes that might have otherwise gone unsolved. While DNA evidence can often be crucial when it comes to determining who committed a crime, researchers argue these DNA databases also pose a major threat to human rights.
In the U.S., the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a DNA database called the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that currently contains over 14 million DNA profiles. This database has a disproportionately high number of profiles of black men, because black Americans are arrested five times as much as white Americans. You don't even have to be convicted of a crime for law enforcement to take and store your DNA; you simply have to have been arrested as a suspect.
[...] As for China, a report that was published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in mid-June claims that China is operating the "world's largest police-run DNA database" as part of its powerful surveillance state. Chinese authorities have collected DNA samples from possibly as many as 70 million men since 2017, and the total database is believed to contain as many as 140 million profiles. The country hopes to collect DNA from all of its male citizens, as it argues men are most likely to commit crimes.
DNA is reportedly often collected during what are represented as free physicals, and it's also being collected from children at schools. There are reports of Chinese citizens being threatened with punishment by government officials if they refuse to give a DNA sample. Much of the DNA that's been collected has been from Uighur Muslims that have been oppressed by the Chinese government and infamously forced into concentration camps in the Xinjiang province.
Related:
EFF to Supreme Court: The Fourth Amendment Covers DNA Collection
EFF Sues Justice Dept. Over FBI's Rapid DNA Plans
Kuwait Creating Mandatory DNA Database of All Citizens, Residents--and Visitors
San Diego Police Department Accused of Unlawful DNA Collection From Minors
Massive DNA Collection Campaign in Xinjiang, China
Study Predicts Appearance From Genome Sequence Data
GEDmatch: "What If It Was Called Police Genealogy?"
Bavarian Law Broadens Police Surveillance and DNA Profiling Powers
DNA Collected from Golden State Killer Suspect's Car, Leading to Arrest
Another Alleged Murderer Shaken Out of the Family Tree
Indiana Murder Suspect Found by Using Genealogical Website
Public Ancestry Data Can be Used to Narrow Down the Identity Behind an Anonymous DNA Sample
Rapid DNA Analysis Machines Coming to Police Departments
FamilyTreeDNA Deputizes Itself, Starts Pitching DNA Matching Services To Law Enforcement
Genealogy Sites Have Helped Identify Suspects. Now They've Helped Convict One
U.S. to Collect DNA of All Undocumented Migrants
US Court Let Police Search GEDmatch's Entire DNA Database Despite Protections
China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West
Cousin Took a DNA Test? Courts Could Use it to Argue You are More Likely to Commit Crimes
Ancestry Says Police Requested Access To Its DNA Database
(Score: 0, Troll) by Captival on Wednesday July 08 2020, @12:45AM (3 children)
And as usual, facts that Liberals don't like get moderated as Troll, then they come in and try to shift the goalposts from "Blacks don't commit more crimes" to "Okay they do but what about raaaaaaaacism". Are all you SJWs completely nuts? Do you not see how ridiculous you are when you rationalize and distort this way? I know that you do, because when you get your same style of argument parroted back at you, you can't stand it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @04:24AM
Racists are like 7 times more likely to be down-modded on SoylentNews. This is not to suggest that they are unpleasant, in error, intentionally ignorant, or otherwise stupid, but you can't argue with facts.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday July 09 2020, @08:31AM (1 child)
Don't you think there might be some alternative variable to correlate with - one that gives an even stronger correlation?
And once you've found the stronger correlation, you need to control for that when evaluating your previous statement. You might find that it evaporates into nothing, but you might even find the correlation is reversed. You won't know until you control for the appropriate other variables.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @02:10PM
Do you notice when people, as yourself, go this route they never provide any figures whatsoever? The correlation between crime and poverty is real but it's generally quite weak. The most recent study I'm aware of on this is available here [sciencedirect.com]. This [sci-hub.tw] is a sci-hub link to bypass the paywall. You'd be most interested in table 2. If you're not familiar with correlation table values: 1 = there is a perfect correlation between A and B, -1 = there is a perfect inverse correlation between A and B, 0 = there is no correlation whatsoever between A and B.
So let's look at the correlates of murder:
Income: -40%
Life Expectancy: -61%
IQ: -64%
Skin Color (black): 84%
Income is, by a wide margin, one of weaker correlations with murder. By contrast race is invariably one of, if not the single strongest, correlates. So strong is the correlation that it can create spurious correlations of the type you probably think are significant. In any variable where blacks are over-represented (which includes poverty) you'll see disproportionately high violent crime rates. So e.g. if I wanted to be a bad social scientist I could research the correlation between music tastes and murder rates only to 'discover' that 'rap music has an extremely strong association with murder'. Time to ban rap music! Due to Poe's Law, let me emphasize that that suggestion is sarcastic.